He will not let me get my breath: in 7.19 Job complained that God gave him no time to swallow his saliva, and here he objects that God repeatedly attacks him without giving him time to catch his breath. Fills me with bitterness: line b extends the complaint in line a and carries it further in the sense that “not only will he not allow me to get my breath, but he even fills my life with bitterness.” Bitterness is a taste which symbolizes suffering, and in languages where the taste of bitterness has no such meaning, it is better to say, for example, “he makes me suffer” or “he fills my life with suffering.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .